McClelland retired as MLB's second-most senior umpire (after Joe West), and was the second tallest major league umpire at 6'6" (Jordan Baker is 6'7"). He was known in the past for working in a kneeling position behind the plate, but switched in 2006 to a "box position," a form of squat. He is also noted for his deliberate umpiring mechanics, which have earned him the nickname "Rain Delay McClelland,"[1] and for his small but consistent strike zone.[2] Major league pitcher Zack Greinke has said of McClelland's tight strike zone, "For some reason, he's the one umpire that scares me. I have nightmares about him."[3]

McClelland also was the umpire during the 2003 game where famous slugger Sammy Sosa was caught with a corked bat at Wrigley Field during the interleague game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Chicago Cubs.[9] Sosa broke his bat hitting a routine ground out, and upon inspection of the fragments of the bat, cork was found, leading to Sosa's ejection and subsequent suspension.

During a spring training game on March 19, 2013, McClelland used the rare umpiring technique of calling balls and strikes from the infield while waiting for another umpire to put on the home plate gear after home plate umpire Seth Buckminster sustained a broken left hand and was forced to leave the game.[12]

Controversies

In his first season in the AL, McClelland was behind the plate in the infamous "Pine Tar Game" at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, in which George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit an apparent two-run home run, which was immediately protested by New York Yankees manager Billy Martin due to an obscure equipment rule. McClelland inspected Brett's bat, which had pine tar 24 inches up the handle. Because of the rule stating that pine tar cannot extend more than 18 inches up a bat handle, McClelland called Brett out, which nullified the home run. AL president Lee MacPhail later overturned McClelland's decision, clarifying that any protest regarding equipment must be made prior to a play, and had the Yankees and Royals replay the inning. Nine years later, McClelland was a member of the crew that worked Brett's 3,000th-hit game and was one of the first to congratulate him.

In 2007, McClelland worked home plate for the NL's Wild Card tiebreaker game between the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies. In the bottom of the 13th inning, with the score even at 8–8, the Rockies scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly when McClelland called the tagging baserunner, Matt Holliday, safe at the plate. There were questions afterward as to whether Holliday had actually touched home plate on his slide. Padres manager Bud Black stated after the game that he believed Holliday did touch the plate.[10] Following the game, McClelland told The Des Moines Register that "Michael Barrett stuck out his leg, but he didn't have it planted in the ground. What I saw was Holliday kind of slide through that leg and touch the plate."[13] McClelland defended his deliberate safe call saying that he wanted to see if Barrett held on to the ball.[13]

On October 20, 2009, in an American League Championship Series game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels, McClelland made two highly publicized controversial calls. McClelland called Nick Swisher out for leaving the base too early when Swisher was tagging up on a fly ball. Some analysts contend that video replays showed this call to be erroneous. With one out in the top of the fifth inning, an apparent double play was negated when McClelland called Robinson Canó safe at third after he was tagged by Mike Napoli while not in contact with the base.

Retirement

After spending the 2014 season on umpiring's Disabled List, McClelland formally retired from the MLB staff prior to the 2015 season. Accordingly, his last game umpired occurred in September 2013, but he did not officially retire until after the 2014 season.[14]